negotiation team a few months ago, wrapping up the last of the lpda negotiations, and experienced those kinds of ours. we were committed to those negotiations, and our negotiations ended with the bart schedule. we had to leave so that we could catch the last train, so i have experienced firsthand the kind of hours and dedication that jennifer brings -- brought to the port and will now bring to other endeavors. congratulations on your retirement. [applause] them of commissioners, i'm also with planning and development division, and jennifer's retirement does not befits someone as well as it does for you for all of the -- jennifer, retirement does not fit someone as well as it does for you for all of the work if you have

done. i think that what jennifer means for many of us here is that there is no one with more heart , and the way that she personally throws herself into her projects is ridiculous, but we are really, really grateful for it because of all of the human factors that she brings into the managing of her projects, trying to be thoughtful about the public's understanding about that as well, and also, i think that it is worth noting that jennifer really not only puts her heart but her money where her mouth is as well because i do not know of any other port staff that is a bondholder twice in the two issuances of the revenue bonds the port commission had the opportunity to do. one in the -- what error. 19 -- when we were refinancing our dead back in the 1990's. and then this one most recently,

so i am in aewe with the level f dedication, and i wish you the best. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm always very proud of everyone i work with at the port. the level of accomplishment and level of commitment done and the level of what gets done at the fort, and once in awhile, someone like jennifer comes along and just bombs that bar of a few notches and does it in a way that she is always fun to be around -- just bumps that bar up a few notches. thank you, jennifer, for all those years and all the work that you have done. [applause] of famine commissioners and guests, susan reynolds -- >> commissioners and guests, susan reynolds from the real estate

department. personally i'm going to miss you. we have been through a lot of ups and downs, and on behalf of the real estate department, you left a legacy there also. i've never come across a dead deal that jennifer worked on. she carried her professionalism and her grace from department to department. i just want to say that i will personally miss you, and i'm sure that everybody in the real estate department will miss you, and we wish you the best. i hope that you will continue to watch our efforts and our accomplishments as we try to implement all the work you have done. thank you. [applause] >> commissioners and members of the public, brad benson, special projects. there are just a handful of people who have had such an input -- impact on us.

it is really amazing. i have had the luxury to be able to work with you closely on many of the project -- i've not had the luxury of being able to work closely with you on many of the products you've undertaken, but i have been watching closely. for the public, the development projects -- they are obviously works of art. it is also enormously complicated, all the entitlements, and they are released herculean efforts that stretched over years, and the way you are able to grab all of that information can be on top of all of it and marshallese projects to final completion is just stunning. so great works of art already accomplished. we look forward to seeing the next work of art, and we really hope we can continue to pick your brain over time, so thank you so much. [applause]

>> grace park, a deputy city attorney. i had the pleasure and honor of working with jennifer for about five years now on exploratory and transaction. about the same time i have been here at the port, and it has been amazing. i think the best way to describe her -- she is like the energizer bunny. she does not stop. it boggles my mind. i have never met anyone with so much energy. if it were not for the bart schedule, as byron stated, i think we would have taken those meetings on until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. but i mean, it has been truly an honor, and i think it is great to have someone like jennifer retire, and also, i want to thank gary for all the patients that he had throughout the endless -- i think months kiri she has worked until midnight

months on end. sometimes i wonder if. it is not humanly possible, but she did it, and we are really lucky to have her, and i am really sad that she is retiring, but at the same time, i think it is very well deserved, and i'm sure that she will tackle lots of other projects with as much gusto as she did with the exploratory and. [applause] >> commissioners, i am one of the project management team -- one of the project managers on the project. with me is the project director for the exploratory him. she will have a few words to say. as want to thank jennifer 45- plus years of 100% commitment to our project -- for five-plus

years of 100 percent commitment. we could not have gotten here without her. when the project is complete, i think she should feel a real sense of pride that she was as much an author of this project as any of the authors associated with it. on a personal note, i will say -- my job it's very easy when i'm sitting across from someone who is maybe physically sitting across from me but mentally and psychological and strategically is sitting next to me as a true partnership on this deal. i have spoken to jennifer two or three times a day for the past five years, and it really is true. she is enormously committed, so thank you very much for your mentor ship and good management practices, and one to emulate here at the port. [applause] >> again, i'm christina wolsey, project manager, and i'm here representing the whole expl

oratorium. you have warned us out just a little bit, but you have kept us going and set our bar high. even though you have many other projects, you always made us feel as though our project is the important, and we appreciate that. i bring a note with best wishes from our chief architect, the executive director, and others at the exploratorium. there are some photographs of the project that i think you'll enjoy, and also bring a record available to everyone on our store -- [laughter] , but it is a report of our work at fort mason in terms of our outdoor pedagogy, so that is what we're really excited about, so this is the chapter that we hope they will support more work at the pierce, but now, i will have an opportunity to extend this period and then also, a poster. you recently had an in house event. we are moving. what is interesting, some of you

may have seen that we have the old palace of fine arts from 1969 with a photograph of frank oppenheimer, said this was a piece at pier 15, where our current director was with him, so for you, thank you very much. [applause] we look forward to seeing you at the site. >> i have one speaker card. then the commissioners, members of the public, thank you for letting me speak today on this. i promise i'm not here to speak about anything but jennifer. jennifer and i work together for six years. i think six or seven. it probably felt like 60 years. but from 2000 through 2006, and when i met jennifer, it was the

third lease i had done with support, and i can tell you, having done the first two, with nick dempsey, it was a different experience. [laughter] i can also tell you that from when i met jennifer, and you had the good taste and good sense to award, she had -- she did a very good job for you because what we ended up signing was three times what we originally offered. so jennifer was -- [clears throat] i remember when we went through 16 agencies, three and a half years of entitlement, and jennifer made me initial every single page of that deal. also, remember i did not have gray hair when i mention ever.

but, seriously, i think she it minimizes -- together, we put together a private public partnership, which will in your and is fair and is good for the pork, good for us. she worked us to death. she worked herself to death, and what i wanted to say about jennifer is that she has all of the elements that a partnership needs. she has integrity, passion, trust, humor, and a little madness. but today, i would like to recognize her, and i did not bring the new post that i told you at lunch we were going to give you because i cannot remember anything anymore, but we have a new post that has the state of california in favor in it, and it has her name on it, and i forgot it, but thank you very much. [applause]

>> [inaudible] [laughter] >> one more comment. i worked at the court from 1997 through 2001, and one thing that people have forgotten over the years is that one morning, the planning and development staff came in and found that here's one through five had been read tact, and we were going to lose those buildings. the tenants had to move out. the engineering staff agreed that they did not have to move out immediately, that the red tag would become effective at the end of the year, and development was faced with quite a challenge because everybody was fully committed to their other jobs. this is a time jennifer really stepped up. she knew that she had no time to work on it, but she also knew that if she did not, if people

within the group did not step up to do it, then those peers would fall into the bay. people often think of people like jennifer as being a super confident, but the super committed to the public good is also very important.

opportunities we have had to deal with the hotel site -- lots of controversial project. she was one of the few. no matter how many tomatoes were thrown at the port, she always had a smile, and afterwards would consult with us for hours. we had a professional person to help us. i congratulate her on her future and thinker for all she has done at present. [applause] president fong: any additional? >> jennifer, i just want to thank you for all you have done. you listened to the people fairly and democratically, and

you did a job well beyond what we would think anyone could do here. thanks so much on behalf of the people and the residents of the area where all the activity took place. i wish you the best in smooth sailing. [applause] >> thank you, everyone, for your kind words today. it touches me. it is it's a row honor. it has been a privilege for me to work at the port. i have participated in some of the changes we have seen on the waterfront and i feel really lucky to have had such a challenging, fun, and interesting career at the port, and to work with such a great group of dedicated and bright people. i especially want to thank monique, byron, and my

colleagues in planning and development for a wonderful experience. and i hope to come back for just a short period to close escrow on this moratorium if i can, because it has been a project dear to my heart for the last six years. i am very excited to see that get under way. while i will hopefully be traveling a lot and playing lot of chamber music, i will be coming down to the waterfront. i just love this place and want to see all of its products and development. change will be inevitable along here. i will keep you all in my heart. thank you for your support and friendship. i will miss you all. thank you. [applause]

vice president shakofsky: on behalf of at least one commissioner, and i think i can speak for all of us, we would second everything your colleagues, friends, and supervisors have said about you. i possibly can claim the privilege of having a new longer than anyone in this room. jennifer and i were college classmates. we connected down here at the port. i think that relationship really epitomizes the experience we have all had down here. again, just to reiterate her professionalism, her dedication, her commitment, her integrity -- she stood up to speak on a topic and we would get solid, creative information. i was in shock when i find out -- when i found out you are retiring because i know exactly how old you are.

i guess i have a little jealousy. i wish you only fun for many years to come. i certainly look forward to seeing you down here for some of the milestones with the project you have helped bring to all of us. commissioner brandon: you are definitely going to be missed. you're such a joy to work with. everything you worked on, you did it with integrity and knowledge. all the projects that have happened are wonderful. you have been there every step of the way. thank you so much for your dedication and your energy. president fong: it is tough to wrap everything up, but thank you, congratulations. [applause]

>> item 8a, accept contracting activity report and any will contract in report fiscal year 2009-2010. become a request authorization to advertise for competitive bids for contract 2741, which includes pier 35 superstructure repair, pier 33 marginal wharf substructure been repaired, and peer 50 valley structure repair. i concede, request authorization to award a contract 2738 in an amount not to exceed $1,892,604 plus a 10% contingency. item8d, award the following

three contract -- baseline environmental consultants, weiss associates, and tetra tech. item 8e, accept grant funding from the united states environmental protection agency for installation of shoreside power at pier 27. item 8f, request approval of amendments to the leasing policy. president fong: there any public comment on these items? ok. commission, any questions? all those in favor? any opposed? consent items eighta8a-f are

approved. >> request authorization to expend $1 million in grant funding -- to issue a request for grant proposals for environmental programs environmentalheron's head. >> i am the environmental and regulatory affairs specialist. i am sorry. i am in the plants programming and development association. i am here to request your authorization to solicit grant proposals for environmental education programs at heron's head park, and extending into inda basiia basin open space.

my power. is not necessary to explain my report, i just thought i would give you something to look at while i am talking. if we never find it, that is all right. i do not believe any of you were commissioners at the time, but you are probably aware that in 1998 the port undertook improvements and expansion of wetlands habitat at heron's head park, the former pier 98, and constructed public access improvement at pier 98 and we opened areas to the public as heron's head park. since then, the port commission has been committed to the value of supporting environmental education and public programs in the park. we have endeavored to provide those programs in a variety of

ways. for a few years we ported that function to a work order to the city college program for habitat restoration. for a while we had a report staff, which proved not to be an ideal solution for providing services. since 2001, we have had a contract with a nonprofit organization to provide environmental education services at the park. the current contract is with a nonprofit organization called literacy for environmental justice or leg. it expires at the end of september 2010. during the past four years, leg has brought thousands of students, teachers, members of the neighborhood, people from all over the state to study, volunteer, learn, and enjoy

heron's head park, all of which have served the participants and the park very well. in my written staff report to you all, i described the many examples of the full range of environmental education activities that have been provided under the contract for the past half four years. i want to point out it really has served a very broad range of people with different ages and interests and abilities. and i think it really exemplifies that the environmental education program at the park service a real need and there is a real demand for opportunities to participate in the stewardship of the part in this very urban environment in the southeast portion of the city.

i think i skipped one. one very exciting development that has occurred in the past few years is that in 2007 our contractor became our tenant and executed a lease with the port for a portion of the park to construct an environmental education facility. you have heard quite a bit about that facility over the past couple of years. in april of this year we all celebrated the grand opening of the ecocenter and heron's head park. that building is virtually complete. there is some testing of the plumbing system that needs to be done, but it will be open for general public use very soon. construction of the ecocenter creates a great opportunity for the future of the environmental

education programs at the park, which to date has been conducted solely in the great outdoors. which is one of their appeals, but having the indoor space, away from the elements, which can be formidable at times -- it can be very hot, very cold, very windy -- provides a good complement to the outdoor environmental experience. those participants in the education program have an opportunity to use resources like a library, computers, and microscopes. we anticipate it will be a great benefit to the port to have public meetings related to community and port operations there. another consideration for the environmental education program, going forward, is an opportunity

to collaborate with the city and county of san francisco recreation and parks department. in 2007, rec and park constructed similar wetlands habitat improvements and public access improvements to india basin shoreline park and india basin open space. sorry. this is an example of some of the corporate volunteer participation with the environmental education programs. that is one of the points i wanted to make about the programs is that not only do they provide great value to the community but they also return value to the port, both in terms of many hours of volunteer labor that are contributed at the park, but also, less tangibly,

in developing public and community support for stewardship of the park and the types of habitat the park houses. india basin open space is on the southern portion of india basin shoreline park. parts of both areas are constructed on port property, but were improved and have been operated and maintained jointly by rec park. rec park staff run a huge storage chip program and also in natural areas -- a youth stewardship program and also a natural areas program. both could complement the programs at heron's head park. similarly, india basin and

heron's head offer similar wetlands habitat and passive recreation opportunities and would complement each other well in terms of the capacity that rec-park has for soliciting public participation and the unique habitat is that both of these sites offer. for example, the it red anc and aprpark program called "the greenagers" is made to increase teenagers' commitment to working in a natural environment and give those youth peea peer group among those who